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A state primary school is giving each of its students an iPad for their own use – and says government money and fundraising were enough to pay for the project.

About 250 new iPad minis were given to children starting the new year at Te Akau ki Papamoa, a decile 4 school in Bay of Plenty, yesterday.

Decile 4, not 10. How did they afford it?

Every student in Years 4 to 6 received an iPad yesterday. The plan is to extend the programme to the junior school eventually.

While many schools would balk at the cost, Mr Jepsen said it had been possible with careful budgeting and some fundraising.

A Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust subsidy will pay 50 per cent of the initial $101,000 cost. But Mr Jepsen insisted the school was committed to the initiative with or without assistance, with another $60,000 budgeted for that purpose.

So some help from the community, but also an internal prioritising decision.

I think this is a great thing. Tablets can be a huge boon for learning.

IPads and iPods are being rolled out out at Timaru’s Bluestone School as teaching tools and principal Ian Poulter says many other schools are doing the same.

Mr Poulter explained the move at a meeting last week that attracted 140 curious parents.

“A lot of schools we understand … are looking at children having devices at school like iPads and iPods to help in their learning,” he said.

The school has provided a year 8 and year 7 classroom with an iPod for each pupil. The school also has iPads that are available to all classrooms at the school, including year 1s and 2s.

A number of applications were useful in education, Mr Poulter said.

He used Puppet Pals, as an example, where users could create animated movies. It also incorporated sounds and music and had to have a clear message.

“The kids are enthusiastic because it’s modern and good fun. They actually engage the learner.

“But underlying all that is the fact that they’re doing English, reading, writing and maths.”

I think the iPad is an incredible educational tool. Kids actually like using them. There are thousands of proven educational applications from around the world, and their cost is under $1,000. I think the future is every five year old gets an iPad on their first day of school.

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Have just downloaded the Sky TV app for the iPad and can see me using it a lot.

The basic app is that it allows you to see the programme guide for the next week, in an easy to follow format. But the real killer part is that once you enter in your account details you can set your My Sky box to record programmes from your iPad.

So you no longer need to be at home to record things. You might be at a friend’s place and see a programme that you want to record. Hit your iPad and it will be recording within seconds back home.

If you forgot to set it in the mornng to record something, you can do it at any stage during the day.

Apple-loving politicians could soon be accessing work emails from their iPads and iPhones.

MPs and parliament staff must currently use BlackBerrys and Microsoft PCs to access work systems, but the Parliamentary Service is trialling software that gives email access to iPhones and iPads in response to demand from Apple enthusiasts.

I was in fact the last Mac user in Parliament. I had both a PC and a Mac in 1996/97 but finally gave the Mac up as it painful having a stand-alone machine not networked.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson said he was an avid iPad fan and greater support for Apple gadgets would boost productivity.

Mr Williamson said he took his iPad on a ministerial trip to China last year and loaded it up with briefing papers.

“You could just bring up the library and briefing notes and search for specific headings … the physical file that had all the briefing notes was four or five Wellington telephone books and they weren’t searchable. I find the whole iPad and iPhone experience so much better than the standard computer environment.”

The President of Russia carries an iPad, and pretty nifty he is at using it – as John Key found out during the Apec leaders’ dinner on Saturday night.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister was seated next to Dmitry Medvedev and spotted the iPad, so Mr Medvedev pulled up the Kremlin’s website.

Up came a photo of Mr Key and Mr Medvedev shaking hands just hours earlier after the pair announced New Zealand and Russia would start negotiating a free trade agreement.

Apple will be pleased. You can’t buy better marketing than the President of Russia showing off an iPad.

I’ve had an iPad for around three months now and I have to say I find it absolutely invaluable. Cunningly, they have invented a device which will not replace either your phone or your laptop, but complements them both.

What do I find so great about the iPad? In no particular order:

Web browsing. A phone screen is uncomfortable size and a laptop can take ages to boot up, login, open the browser etc. On the iPad you can have the web browser open and working within three seconds. It’s great for web browsing.

Portability. Can travel and use it anywhere – on buses, in taxis, on planes. Great for filling in the moments.

Business meetings. Can use it as your note pad. Easy to take notes on, and you can keep them on the iPad or e-mail them to your laptop.

Applications Store. This is the best marketing channel in the world. You can buy almost anything, and lots of free stuff also. The future of newspapers is likely to be through special premium versions for the iPad.

Battery. 10 hours. Yes.

Books. I would never read a book on my laptop. But am reading several on the iPad. The flicking movement to turn a page makes it very close to the real thing, and the ability to set font size is great. What is especially great is all the free books which are out of copyright.

Movies. HD movies look awesome. Also does You Tube etc

Games. Far far too addictive. The average price is around $2 so how can one resist.

E-mail. While one can access it on the phone, it’s great for read.ing attachments, and doing responses.

Education. I’d seriously recommend parents consider getting the kid an iPad when they turn around three. There are great interactive learning tools which will make reading and maths lots of fun.